Bail set at $50K for Monroe ex-cop in child-rape case

EVERETT — A former Monroe police sergeant was ordered to post $50,000 bail Monday out of concern that he may again try to track down the woman who alleges he began sexually abusing her a decade ago.

Carlos Martinez, 58, appeared in Snohomish County Superior Court for a hearing about conditions of his release while he awaits trial on six different sex crimes.

Prosecutors asked for $50,000 bail out of concern that Martinez appeared to be searching for the woman who has accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.

Martinez’s inquiries about the woman’s whereabouts, including a recent attempt to get her address from the state Department of Licensing, led the state to suspend his private investigator’s license in July.

The case against Martinez alleges that in 2003 he began a sexual relationship with a then-14 year old girl. At the time, Martinez was a Monroe police officer and had earlier taught drug education in the girl’s fourth- and fifth-grade classes.

Prosecutors allege that Martinez groomed the girl for abuse. On Aug. 30, they charged him with multiple sex crimes, including child rape, molestation and voyeurism.

He pleaded not guilty, and insisted that the sex only began after the girl reached 18.

The Washington State Patrol began investigating Martinez in March 2012 after it was contacted by an FBI task force based in San Antonio, Texas. Martinez was arrested there on suspicion of possessing child pornography involving the same girl, but charges were never filed. Now 24, she told investigators that the pair would sometimes have sex while Martinez was on duty.

In court on Monday, public defender Sarah Silbovitz, told the Judge Anita Farris that Martinez was looking for the woman’s whereabouts to make certain she is properly served in a civil case.

She said there is no reason to believe Martinez represents a flight risk, and that $10,000 bail was more appropriate.

Deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said she’s more concerned about Martinez potentially attempting to intimidate witnesses in the case. Not only has he been trying to track down his accuser, he also has told his ex wife that she shouldn’t speak with detectives because she could wind up in trouble, too, Paul said.

Farris said she was ordering the $50,000 bail in response to concerns about Martinez’s conduct.

The defendant then asked to leave the state for a trip to Texas so he can celebrate his birthday with friends. Farris turned him down flat.

Martinez left the Monroe Police Department in 2009. He was about to be fired after being accused of assaulting his wife.

That same year, Martinez separated from his wife and he moved to Texas with the girl he’d been molesting for six years, prosecutors allege. She went to police in Texas in 2011.